


A Little Bit Naughty

by Quente



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-28
Packaged: 2017-11-26 13:03:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/650808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quente/pseuds/Quente
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Romance is complicated when you're an extremely private actor, but in New Zealand, everybody likes to stir the pot. Inspired by the shyness of Richard Armitage, the sly eyes of Lee Pace, and the amazingly beautiful crack that is LOTRIPS, reborn.</p><p>Lord_Henry is translating this into Russian, and the first part <a href="http://delirium-diary.diary.ru/p202275789.htm?oam">is here</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Elf on a chair

Lee’s first day on the set was interesting for everyone, but for Richard in particular.

The chemistry was there at the read through. Anti-chemistry, chemistry, whatever. Thorin and Thranduil hated each other because they were two different kinds of beings, a cool-tempered elven king from the forests of Mirkwood, and a hot-blooded dwarven prince from the kingdom formerly known as Erebor.

Lee stood on a chair and Richard stood beneath him, script in hand, glowering up as he delivered his lines. It was funny. Richard knew intellectually that he was the same height as Lee, and that if they stood side by side they were of a heft, too. But now the cold eyes were staring down from high above him, and Richard’s lines were fierce ones, delivered in the deep growl that he had been practicing lately. He practiced with words from Maori mingled with Shakespeare and the slow song of the dwarves, melded into a low commanding note that brooked no argument.

Lee, on the other hand, looked a bit silly for a moment perched on the chair. He bit his lip, staring down, and then put his hand to his face. ”I’m sorry, I had a Monty Pythonn moment,” Lee said sheepishly, his voice dropping back to the gum-chewing accent of midwest America. 

“You all right?” Richard asked, breaking character, his voice edged with amusement. “I admit that it’s struck me that way once or twice.”

Lee laughed. “I’m fresh off of Breaking Dawn. It’s just a little…” He shook his head, remembered his professionalism, and did the mental half-turn that it took to slide into the cold ice-blond elf and away from all the rest of the crap in his mind.

Standing tall, Lee’s slender body flexing like a dancer’s, he slid his hand to point to Thorin. “You. Defiling our woods, stiring evil in the mountain —” The coldness and unconcern slid out of him, clashing and colliding in the air between their meeting eyes.

And then for a long moment they battled silently, gaze to gaze. Cold, disapproving elf against the heat of Thorin’s ages-past rage, and…sparks flew.

It took Richard’s breath away. When they broke the scene, the cast and crew cheered, and Lee did a half-bow from his chair.

“Well, I think we’ll keep you,” PJ’s voice came, jovially, from the small dark tent where he sat with his monitors. He emerged, blinking like an owl, his hair in four different directions. “Now, Richard, what do you think we should do next?”

Richard cleared his throat, meditating for a thoughtful moment, staring up at Lee with a measured look. Driven by a strange impulse, he said, “Thorin needs to touch him. I think Thranduil has lived too long as an elf above all the rest, and Thorin needs to bring him back to the ground, back to reality.”

Lee’s eyes met his with a measure of amusement, and perhaps, deep inside his gaze, something else.

“Touch me? Keep away, dwarf, lest the arrows of the elves test your dwarven armor.” Lee’s tone was unexpectedly the cold high British accent of Thranduil, and for a moment Richard felt shaken by the cutting tone. 

Then Richard laughed, and everyone around him laughed as well.

“Great,” said PJ. “That’s exactly how we’ll play it. Everyone to your marks!”

And that was Lee’s first day on the set.

Richard didn’t stop smiling. Thorin had found a worthy nemesis, much more worthy than a CGI goblin.


	2. Smoke from Gandalf's Pipe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard is appalled that anyone should be taking an interest in his love life, especially because he doesn't date where he works. But somehow, Richard finds himself drinking with two formidable actors. Can he hold his own?

Ian McKellen was smoking meditatively on the set of Mirkwood, rear planted on the conveniently bent trunk of a tree, foot carefully avoiding a patch of neon pink mushrooms. He wasn’t quite staring at a particular dwarf, of course not.

That dwarf wandered near, however. It was a small break in shooting, and they were about to do something relatively physically intense. Richard got ponderously to his knees, and then collapsed back with a sigh. No matter how much yoga he did, the outfit was a bit of a drain after a long day.

“Hang in there,” Ian said with a wink, gesturing with his pipe in a way entirely like Gandalf. 

Richard laughed, easing back to rest his bewigged head carefully against the tree trunk at Ian’s knee. 

“You do look nice in that beard, Richard.”

Richard glanced up, seeing the warmth and slight light in Ian’s eye. It caught at him immediately, and he smiled back with all the mischief of a little boy whose schoolmaster had caught him at a familiar trick.

“I think someone else has noticed it too…” Glancing off into the distance, at a group of elves gathered far from the dirty pile of dwarves.

Richard looked over and saw. Then back at Ian. “McKellen. You aren’t matchmaking, are you, sir?” Richard’s smile was warm and his tone a bit chiding. “This is my job. I don’t date on the job.”

“Oh now,” Ian said. “That’s like saying that life and acting are different! You need to do a bit of both, you know, or else you’ll find that your character’s lived a rich life — while you haven’t.”

Richard was quiet, listening to Ian. He didn’t respond right away, but instead dug a gloved hand somewhere under piles of leather and steel to find an itch on his stomach. He scratched and sighed, glancing again to the group of elves.

Then he noticed that there was not a woman among them, and he narrowed his eyes at Ian again.

But Ian looked at him quite innocently. “Quite an educated American there, that Lee Pace. He went to Juliard, you know.”

“Ah, did he?” Richard knew that this wasn’t a non sequitor, not at all. His eyes narrowed even more.

“You’re giving me SUCH a grim face, Richard Armitage,” Ian said, his voice a gentle ripple of amusement.

“And so you’ve chatted him up already? What else should I know?” 

“That he’s better read than I am, for one.”

Richard turned again to contemplate the American actor, shining in the distance in a stray beam of lighting like some kind of ethereal being, even in the midst of this dank and twisted set.

“Well, I do appreciate your concern.”

Ian laughed. “Oh, Richard. You need to relax a bit, seriously. Come by later, maybe we can all have a drink and a chat.”

“And of course Lee Pace might be there as well.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps.”

Ian’s laughter followed Richard into his scene. The teasing had been kindly meant, but there was something deep inside him that resented the assumption, and the intrusion. Richard was private and kept private, especially at work, and this…

But then he saw Lee picking his way toward him through the brush of Mirkwood.

“Hey there.” That unexpectedly warm, relaxed voice, emerging from the elven king. “Ian just invited me by later, said I could take you too if you want.”

And in Lee’s eyes an unmistakeable invitation.

“Ah, well.” The makeup hid the warmth in Richard’s skin. “Well. We’ll see how long the shoot takes, and how long it is to take off the prosthetics… and then I’ll be by.”

Small, guilty grin, and a quick look away.

“It’s a day off tomorrow, right? You have no excuses.” And then Lee gave him the friendliest thump on the back.

From a distance, Ian saw the pale figure, all in blond and gold and white like Nordic Barbie, standing so close to the towering dwarf king that they were the most incongruous pair since Gimli and Legolas.

And Ian smiled.

~

Later, sitting in the back patio of Ian’s rented flat in Wellington, the three men sipped the good wine and dove into conversation about the common thread between them all, acting.

A bit of wine in him and the relief of a professional subject relaxed Richard too, so he enjoyed the night far more than he thought he would.

Lee smiled often when he saw Richard’s eyes on him, and Ian’s long cigarette punctuated the night with its wavering smoke. The lights of the quiet city were spread out below, and the sound of the insect life in the rainforest of Ian’s yard was as loud as the sea.

“You’ve had a busy year, Lee Pace,” observed Ian, and soon they were laughing as Lee described antics on the set of Twilight and Lincoln.

“Spielberg,” said Ian meditatively. “Interesting fellow.”

“So very different from Peter’s madness,” Lee said, shaking his head, chuckling. “But Richard, you’ve had a busy year too…”

“Ah, not especially,” Richard said, ducking his head and smiling a bit. “Certainly on a smaller scale than you lot.”

“Captain America. Strike Back. MI-5. Robin Hood…” Lee’s voice, unexpectedly, recounting his past few years.

Richard nodded at all of them.

“You were the best part in most of those.”

Richard’s eyes met Lee’s. “You watched…Captain America.”

“I was curious about you. About your acting.”

Suddenly the look was stare to stare, and in the silence, Ian got up. “I’ll go refresh our drinks.” Wandering away, inside.

“Captain America levels of curious?”

Lee laughed. “Your German bad guy was intense.”

“I saw The Fall,” Richard admitted. “But I didn’t realize until long after you were cast as Thranduil that that was you.” He blushed, with no prosthetics to hide it.

Lee just looked at him for a moment, and there was silence, and getting watched like that made Richard wish for something to hide behind, but he did not even have his wine glass.

“Prometheus is out soon. I’m curious about that film,” Lee said, after the silence had gone on for so long that it was obviously about something.

“Oh really?” Richard was too polite to say that it actually looked like crap.

Lee opened his mouth, and then hesitated. “Not your type of thing?”

“Not so much,” Richard said, a little sheepishly. 

“I…it’s historic, for me. I grew up with the Alien movies, and this just feels like a continuation…”

Ian was back, holding cups in his hand. “Oh, Richard. Do go take this nice young fellow to see Prometheus, even if it isn’t something intellectual.”

Richard glowered again. He did hate being railroaded, but when he glanced up he saw that pair of amused eyes looking at him…challenging him a bit, as if to ask what his problem was.

“You free next Friday?”

“Good man.” Ian handed Richard his wine, and that was that.

For the rest of the night, whenever Richard’s eyes met Lee’s, there was an undercurrent there. Suddenly a whole week seemed much too long.


	3. Fading sense of home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie is part of Richard's life like the smell of their old flat, but it's been months since they've seen each other.

Thursday night, Richard called home. The next day was a night at the movies with a new friend, but he wasn’t so disconnected from his life, his normal ordinary non-New Zealand life, that he’d forget to call his woman and tell her about it.

She hadn’t called the day before, or the day before that. Richard remembered the first series that had separated them, one that required him to be in the woods of Romania for months on end. She’d called daily, sometimes twice a day, and her soft voice put him to sleep at night.

He’d been the bad guy then. Perhaps he still was, typecast as the man with the intense stare and twisted nose, the man that nobody liked to like, but did anyway.

“Annie?” After the third ring. There was a voice in the background, another woman’s. The sound of hushing. He wondered who it was.

“Richard.”

They chatted for a moment about all the usual things. Richard’s day on set, Annie’s day on stage. It felt comfortable, and for a long moment Richard closed his eyes and imagined being home with her. Their flat had all of their things in it, comfortable and spare, a bachelor and a bachelorette finding solace in each other’s company, and a bit of love too.

But then there came an awkward pause. ”Richard… I don’t know how to say this, so I’d best just get it over.”

Sinking feeling in his stomach.

“It’s been too long, Richard. I think you and I both know that it’s impossible to be like this.”

Dropping his head, Richard felt all the warmth of home sliding away from him, even as her voice turned cooler.

“Annie. Does it have to be this way? Fly out and visit.” He dropped his voice, made it as coaxing as he could. Few women could withstand it, or so he’d been told by numerous fans.

But she could. It was one of the reasons he’d liked her to begin with. A woman strong enough to take his measure, and give him his freedom, all in one. Perhaps it was too much to ask of any human.

The talk was short and decisive after that.

Richard stood outside of his flat and breathed in full lungs of air. In with the peace, out with the pain, over and over with cyclical yogic breathing until his chest stopped aching.

His flat was so empty of everything. It had felt just fine moments before, but now, instead of simply being empty, it was lonely.

~

Friday dawned bright and early. In the prosthetic chair, the makeup artist’s eyebrows quirked as she studied his expression.

“And what were you up to all night? Your eyes are so red they match your cheeks.”

Richard forced a smile. You couldn’t put anything by the prosthetics people. “I don’t want to say,” he admitted quietly. He’d rather do that than lie.

“Yes sir,” she said cheerfully, and they moved on to discuss what they always did, a mixture of politics, fiction, music, prosthetics, movies, and Martin Freeman. The lady had a bit of a crush, and Richard couldn’t help feeding it with small bits of information because he liked seeing her smile.

On the set, Richard was happy to discover that they were shooting action.

“You’re having an epic battle today with your nemesis, Azog,” Andy Serkis said quite cheerfully. The whole company of dwarves were assembled, yawning and carefully stretching in their smoke-smeared garments. “You’ve all been up in the trees for a while, but Thorin just can’t keep away from Azog, so he’s going to stride down toward him like a BOSS while the rest of you react. After he gets his arse handed to him, we’ll have a few others of you run down and help with the fighting. Bilbo first of course…”

That took care of the red eyes, and enough hacking at thin air gave Richard the workout he needed to clear his mind for the evening.

~

There was an immaculately coiffed blond in the makeup chair when Richard staggered wearily back after a long day of fighting imaginary foes. He was sweaty and covered in dirt and leaves and carefully caked mud, and he knew he reeked. He paused, feeling more self-conscious than he could possibly have imagined.

“Ready to go?” Lee asked, his voice a wash of barely contained humor.

“You fucker. Let’s go then,” Richard said, rising to the bait. “If you can stand to be within ten paces of me you win a prize.” Walking closer, reaching out to grip a pristine length of blond hair.

“Oh no you don’t,” said the prosthetics lady, grabbing Richard firmly by the wrist and steered him into a chair. “Lee, you go back to your own damned trailer. We’re busy here!”

“Okay okay,” Lee laughed, standing and swirling his silver-embroidered coat for dramatic effect. “I’ll see you when I see you, Richard.”

“Were you even in this scene? Did I miss you somehow?”

“Oh, we’re filming a battle sequence next door. I got to ride the Phony Pony. Told it was my magical elk. By the way, I completely dissed Thorin.”

“I’ll make you pay for that,” Richard growled, all Thorin for a moment with his eyes a flashing glower.

“I was hoping so.” Lee shot Richard an amused glance as he swung his robe around to depart.

Richard’s laughter was deep and shook out some residual emotions. It was nice to laugh like that.

But the prosthetics lady was pointedly silent.

“What?” Richard asked finally, sighing.

“It’s nothing.” Her smirk seemed to indicate that it was a foregone conclusion.


	4. A few good aliens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard and Lee go see Prometheus together. Darn those unfounded gay rumors!

The ache that was Annie grew in him again through the grim work that was removing his costume. Nearing freedom, Richard relaxed back in the chair and felt the skilful fingers of an assistant shampoo any remaining gunk out of his hair.

"Style it up, Jerry," Grace said from his feet, scraping away at some toenail dirt. "He's going out on the town tonight."

"Oh I will," Jerry said.

Richard laughed again, he couldn't help it. The Kiwis slipped through his careful privacy and reserve without any remorse, and he couldn't even fault them for it. "And what if I told you two that I only have one person on my mind, and she's back in England?"

"What happens on The Hobbit stays on The Hobbit," Grace said philosophically. "Besides, it's only a bit of fun. What are you working so hard for, anyway?"

Richard couldn't tell her that actually what he did wasn't working, it was what he lived for. That had always been something that he and Annie agreed upon, that acting was more important than anything else in their lives. That's why they had been such good partners. The rest of it, the fire in her eyes when she was particularly turned on by a topic of discussion, or the feeling of her generous body under his hands, all of it… 

"Are you ok? You look like you need to fart. Let it out, it can't smell worse than your costume right now."

"Oh shut up," Richard said, laughing again. Damned Kiwis, interrupting his heartbreak.

"So who's the lucky woman tonight?" Jerry asked, gently rubbing away his thoughts.

"I'm just heading out with Lee."

Jerry raised his eyebrow but said nothing.

"Oh, stop it. Not everything is about --"

Lee, done with his minimal amount of makeup and wig removal, stepped into the trailer and leaned his lanky body against the door frame.

"About what?" Lee drawled.

"…Um," Richard floundered.

"Don't mind me, I'm just waiting for my date," Lee said, winking at Jerry. "Make him pretty for me."

"Date," Richard said, sighing.

"We were just about to," Jerry said, tilting Richard up so that his glare could meet everyone's eyes.

Lee laughed to see his expression. Ah, Richard, such a lovely man that was locked behind so much reserve. Lee thought he looked beautiful and dangerous just then, sitting in nothing but a pair of underwear, water dripping down his chest from the shampooing.

Richard reached for a towel, which Lee managed to pick up just in time, throwing it over his shoulder and walking away with it.

Jerry's eyes were sparkling with wickedness, and he too gently kicked a rack of towels out of the way, picking one up to drape over Richard's head, neatly covering his eyes.

"I'm cold," Richard's voice was muffled.

Jerry picked up the spray bottle of water and sprayed it over Richard's bare stomach, and everyone in the room watched appreciatively as he flinched a little, unaware that it was on purpose.

Lee hid his laughter in a fold of his arm.

"Oh, quit your bitching, diva," Grace said from his feet. "What I wouldn't pay for a mani-pedi and blow-out every night."

"I hear people pay YOU for their nightly blow-out," Jerry said to her, snickering, and Grace snapped her towel at Jerry's tush.

"You bloody man, just do our Richard's hair before he dies of cold, or embarrassment."

They both turned and gave wide winks and grins to Lee, which he met with a wide grin of his own, giving them both the thumbs-up while Richard's eyes were covered by the towel.

"Please leave me alone for fifteen minutes until I'm ready?" Richard said with a sigh from under the towel.

~

Fifteen minutes later, Lee (who was sitting outside with his nose in a book) watched as Richard prowled with leonine grace down the steps of the trailer, looking for all the world like a lost GQ model.

"The photoshoot is that way," Lee said, closing his book and walking up to him.

Richard laughed again, watching in turn as Lee sauntered up looking nothing like an elf, but instead like a Marlborough man in his jeans and white t-shirt. "I'll drive, if you like."

"Know where it is?"

"Oh yes, of course, right downtown."

They fell into a discussion of the day's shoot, which once again relaxed Richard enough that he could start noticing the other man. They had a few things in common, Richard felt, actor things. Like, the way in which Lee watched him from the passenger's seat with wide eyes, taking in every moment, keeping perfectly still himself. It was a stage actor's trick, designed to direct attention to the person with the dialogue.

When they pulled up to the theater there was still time, so they headed to a cafe and got coffee and sandwiches. They ate efficiently, both of them focusing completely on the food with all the hunger of a hard day's shoot.

Both of them were healthy as hell, eating sandwiches full of hummus, sprouts, wheat bread, tomato, and lettuce. Richard had a tall shot of espresso, and Lee, a nice strong cup of joe.

Finally Richard closed his eyes and sighed, feeling his blood sugar equalize. Then he focused on Lee again, watching a mouthful of sprouts get slowly consumed.

Lee looked up and just watched Richard back, still chewing the last bite of his sandwich. Finally he sat back with a sigh, stretching and rubbing his head. "I was exhausted," he admitted, "but now I'm better."

"What were you reading earlier?" Richard asked.

"Oh umh." 

Was Lee blushing? Richard tilted his head, blinking, momentarily taken by the wash of pink over the cheeks of the brash American.

"Mm. It's just a book I picked up second hand."

"Which is?" Richard prompted.

"Ahhh. It's … Okay it's the Gaskell book. North and South."

Richard didn't laugh at all, but he felt the words turn something in his emotions, and he regarded Lee slightly differently. "Ian did mention that you were well read."

"Did he? High praise. I think actors have to be, to keep our strange little internal universes alive." Lopsided smile.

"And so now I'm inside one of your universes, am I?" Richard said, and without meaning to his voice had gotten quite playful, soft and velvet.

"Mm. You? Or your Thornton?" Lee winked, and then glanced at his phone. "Ah - we'd better go."

Touché. Richard was the one blushing as they stood.

~

Sitting in the dark, Lee disregarded the homophobic need for an empty chair between them and sat companionably shoulder to shoulder with Richard.

They fell silent as soon as the trailers began, and watched with interest as they saw their peers up on the screen. Then came a trailer for Lincoln, one that had Lee sitting forward with his head tilted.

There he was, being an asshole. Lee nodded in satisfaction, sitting back, bumping shoulders again.

"I don't think I'll be inviting that man into my imagination," Richard said, his voice teasing again as he glanced sideways.

Lee turned his head and for a moment their noses were very, very close, Lee's expression comical… "So which of my characters would you invite in?"

"And you assume I've watched all your films?"

Lee laughed and shoved him a bit, muscle sliding against muscle. "I don't assume anything. I just know." Sly sideways glance.

"Hush, you. The movie is beginning." Richard's tone was severe.

The movie was fine. It actually caught them both in just the right place, when they were both exhausted from a long week and needed to be taken entirely out of themselves for a while.

Richard didn't move farther from him, and when their shoulders touched again, it felt warm, friendly. Relaxed.

Blinking in the light of the credits, Lee looked around to see someone staring at them and typing rapidly into a cellphone.

"I hope you're okay with gay rumors," Lee said, sighing.

Richard glanced up sharply, and then shrugged. "If there weren't gay rumors, I wouldn't be an actor."

Standing, they gave each other speculative glances.

"Drink?" Richard said after a moment.

"Yep," Lee said with a smile that wasn't shy at all, and it was settled.

~


	5. At the sign of the random bar in Wellington

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the movie our heroes have a quiet night in a pub. Or maybe just the opposite. And finally this chapter becomes PG-13.

The bar was cosy and jovial, with a rough-hewn look that reminded Richard of his favorite set from the filming, Beorn's house. Lee and Richard found seats across from each other at one of the thick communal tables, causing a tiny stir as all the women and some of the men turned to give them a once over.

In Wellington, being an actor on The Hobbit was akin to being a deity. They were used to a bit of notoriety already.

The barmaid was a genuine barmaid, round and voluptuous, and leaned over to place some water and a bowl of boiled peanuts down in front of them. Lee glanced thoughtfully at Richard, who was behaving like enough of a gentleman to not stare at what was in front of him.

"What would you like tonight?" The lady smiled, looking at them both, clearly excited by the proximity to Middle-earth.

Richard glanced at Lee and gave him a wink.

In the deep growl of Thorin, made more effective by his beard, he glowered up at the woman. "My poncy elf friend would like champagne in a pretty little fluted glass, and I would like the biggest mug of ale that you have."

The woman's expression slid to shock, and she glanced at Lee.

Lee put on his best fantasy English accent, his whole face turning cold. "The uncouth dwarf is wrong. I would have ale as well. Your 1420 brew."

The barmaid began to giggle uncontrollably, and of course by then they'd attracted the attention of the rest of the room.

"Uncouth?" Richard said, his eyes sparking with the long-held anger of centuries. "Was it uncouth of me to order a drink for the one who turned away from my people, leaving us to die at the doors of our city?"

Lee rolled his eyes. "Some of us," he said in a remote tone, "live more in the past than the present. I will pick up the check to cover any ancient injustice."

Silence fell on the whole room as Lee gave Richard an unconcerned stare, and Richard glared back.

With the greatest glee the barmaid began to clap, laughing, and the whole room clapped as well, shouting their encouragement for Richard and Lee and the whole production.

Richard shared a small, satisfied grin with Lee, who shook his head, laughing. 

It felt like the entire town was in on it. In fact, a few others from the production were in the room and came over to share the table with them. Soon it was an impromptu party with many rounds of beer, and Richard felt enveloped by the warmth of the New Zealand family.

Lee joined in too, but after the second hour he began to let his eyes linger on Richard's face, thoughtfully. What did Richard want? Apparently it wasn't an intimate night out. Or perhaps he didn't perform that way in public.

Richard was aware of Lee's eyes on him. It was true, he felt a tiny bit of guilt to think that he'd been shy about having a roomful of people observe him on a date with Lee (he admitted the word date to himself, now). He'd used the movie to turn it into an event, and Lee had been kind enough to play along. But Lee…

It was time to give Lee his due. Stretching, Richard said, "Time to head out, yes? It's been a long day."

Lee nodded assent. They shook hands all around and kissed the squealing barmaid before heading out into the quiet Wellington night.

Lee was silent. He'd been unable to read Richard, and didn't know how much he could push the moment.

"Your --" He finally began, when Richard said at the same time, "I -- " They both laughed, and Richard turned to face Lee.

"I had a lovely time tonight," Richard said. "It was what I needed. My partner … ex-partner … just moved out of our flat in London and it's been a shit day."

Oh. Lee's expression was rueful. "I should give you some time to figure that out." He reached out a friendly hand and settled it on Richard's shoulder. "Are you doing all right?"

"Actually." Richard felt his own face flush as he looked down, not meeting Lee's eyes but reaching out his hand to slide to Lee's waist. "I could use something else."

Lee paused, feeling his body react to a strong hand on his waist, watching Richard's face turn to shyness. It was almost an embrace, so Lee turned it into one, both arms over Richard's shoulders. "We'll see," Lee said, also gently. "Drive me to my apartment, let's see how it goes."

Did Lee want to be used to sooth heartbreak? Or was the heartbreak an excuse to get in Lee's pants? Either way, Lee found he didn't mind.

~

Lee's television was inside of a cabinet with closed doors. His couch faced another fine view of the city, through glass doors that he pulled open to let in the night. Then, without any comment and without wasting time, he pulled off his shirt.

For the first time that night he was sure of Richard's attention, and it was total.

"Drink?"

"Just water."

Richard's eyes were glued to Lee's body, and Lee felt a wash of pride and power as he headed into the kitchen. He got out a glass and was at the sink when he felt Richard's body step behind him, and a second after that he closed his eyes to feel the silky slide of Richard's bare chest against his back.

And then Lee felt a mouth on the back of his neck, Richard's nose in hair at his nape, and teeth on him.

The second Lee took his shirt off, Richard felt logical thought circumvented. The sight went straight to his balls, and he was hornier than he could remember being in years. Lee's body was a dream, lithe and muscled all at once, with freckles breaking down his shoulders to fade into the paleness of his back.

Richard took his own shirt off in seconds. Lee's neck did him in, and seconds later he bit the flesh to taste it, his hands on the bunched muscle of Lee's stomach, pulling him close.

Lee endured the growing heat from Richard's bites for as long as he could before turning around, feeling a strange double sense of triumph and sadness inside. So he was being used. At the same time, who wouldn't want to be used in this way, by this man? Richard's expression was fierce, but his eyes were open and locked to Lee's.

And then, Richard's hand slid carefully into Lee's hair, but he didn't close his eyes, staring until he had to close them, and they were lip to lip.

So many questions in Lee's mind. So many questions fled the second Richard opened his mouth and kissed him, a soft kiss that broke harder and harder each time their lips parted and met.

Lee tasted good. Richard pushed him back against the sink, realizing in a moment that it was interesting to kiss someone of a height. Hot. Beyond hot. Richard's hands slid to check out the muscles of Lee's arms, while Lee went straight for Richard's ass.

Teeth on Lee's neck again. "I thought you were straight for the longest time," Lee gasped.

"So did I," Richard chuckled against Lee's skin. The curious and overwhelming urge was in him to follow the trail of freckles down Lee's stomach to see where they led. 

And then, from the back pocket of Richard's jeans, came the sound of a symphony. Lee placed it, the light sweet strain from the Symphony Fantastique.

"Mmmmh?" 

"It's Annie," Richard said, stepping back, rubbing his face to clear away the horniness. "I need to take this."

Lee stared at him, laughing just a bit. He felt caught. The gay lover of the married man. "The balcony is there. Have some privacy."

Lee wondered whether the night was at an end…

~


	6. Warm milk and a cuddle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richard's phone call is over, and he's a mess, but Lee helps out... [This chapter is EXPLICIT, so be duly warned!]

~

It took a while for Richard to have that conversation. Lee went from feeling horny and unfulfilled to resigned and a little crushed. He went and changed into his pajama pants, leaving his shirt off, and brushed his teeth. At least he was home, and whether Richard left or stayed, at least Lee could get a good night's sleep.

Lee wouldn't even let things get awkward between them. They were both mature adults, and as fun as it was to roll around and grope, if Richard had other commitments, it was what it was.

It sounded much more mature in Lee's head than he actually felt. He'd been nosing around Richard for quite some time before the man finally succumbed, and it felt like a huge letdown, if Lee was honest with himself. Lee was sitting on his couch with his arms crossed, simply waiting, when Richard came back in from outside.

Richard's expression was so kicked-puppy that suddenly none of Lee's more selfish thoughts seemed to compare. Lee was up in a bound and had his arms around Richard again, but this time pulled him into a big, compassionate hug.

"Oh -- Lee. I've been terribly rude and you --"

"Shuddup. Just take it." Lee turned his head and gave Richard the softest kiss on the cheek, and then tucked the other man's head into the crook of his shoulder and neck. "Just take the hug."

"Lee…" 

For the longest moment Lee stood there, arms around Richard's bare torso, rocking him just a little. Heart to heart, chakra to chakra, breathing with Richard until the wetness of tears on his shoulder dried up a little. Then Lee broke away just far enough to tilt up Richard's chin and look at him.

"Come sleep beside me."

"After all this, I don't think I --"

"Nah, you didn't listen. I'll just hold you. I know how lonely it can be to get dumped on a job."

"Oh." 

"I'll make you some warm milk. You go wash up. There should be a spare new toothbrush kicking around."

Richard went, feeling a strange sense of sheepishness and relief. Here he'd so much as told his coworker that he'd fuck him just for a fuck, took a call from his woman (ex-woman) at the guy's house, and now Lee was being…compassionate? Richard was a mess, and Lee was lovely. It touched him deeply.

After washing up and stripping down to his boxer-briefs, Richard came back out to sit at the little table where Lee had put a cup of warm milk. This too made Richard smile a little as he took a sip. 

"Did your mum teach you to give people warm milk when they're troubled? In my family, it's tea, of course."

"Yep. It must be a midwestern thing." Lee looked at Richard and had to look away. Fucking hell, the guy didn't make compassion easy, sitting there in nothing but tight underwear that left little to the imagination. 

Richard let the warm milk settle him, feeling it ease through him from head to toes. Then he took the cup to the kitchen and washed it, tucking it in the drying rack. "You're right, I'm sleepy now," he said, smiling again in a sheepish apology.

"Mmh." Lee glanced up from watching Richard's ass. "Right. This way." Taking Richard's hand he led him to bed.

The bed was a Queen, which actually just fit the two of them with no room to spare. It was a good thing Lee didn't have a dog, he reflected. But after a bit of twisting and turning it worked out, and Lee's bottom fit right against Richard's hips, with Richard's heartbeat a soft thump against Lee's back.

"Mmmmm…" A soft, almost inaudible sigh from Richard. It felt so good. "I haven't slept curled up with someone in a long time. Too long. You don't have tits to squeeze when I spoon you though."

Lee chuckled. "You have all the right parts as far as I'm concerned." Lee gave a tiny ass-wiggle to help remind Richard that Lee was a red-blooded man, thanks, and Richard shouldn't tease. He was gratified to find that Richard got just a bit hard from that, the second before Lee stopped.

"Mmf." Richard gave him an answering bite on the shoulder, but then lay still, with his nose resting just a little below Lee's hair.

It felt good, very good, but it turned Lee on way, way too much. He felt Richard fall asleep behind him, his breath going from shallow to deep, deep, as he went farther and farther into sleep.

Lee squirmed away from him after a few hours of staring at the wall, his own dick desperately hard, and half-turned to look. It was warm enough that they had no covers, and when Lee moved away, Richard turned to sprawl on his back. The moonlight fell over his form, which was just the right mix of thick and slender in all the perfect places. Lee pillowed his head on his arm and slid his hand into his pajama pants, staring at Richard's body as his hand began to slowly pump.

Damn the man. It was this that had attracted Lee in the first place, all the shallow reasons. But he'd remained interested because Richard was smart, and had a depth of feeling that you could see in his acting. Even the first few scenes they'd done together had done nothing but deepen that feeling, and now Lee finally had him in bed…asleep.

Lee groaned. It was far too much, and far too little, all at once. But what if he were on top of Richard, easing down onto the dick that he could see so nicely outlined in his underwear...

Lee was close to coming already, but he liked to play with that feeling. He rolled to his back and pushed his pants off, constricting his dick with one hand, pumping with the other. He thought of Richard's kisses on his neck, hard-on against his ass. He thought of more than that…

…So when the hand settled on his stomach, it was almost like part of his fantasy. The voice in his ear, though, thick and sleepy but turned on…that was not part of his fantasy.

"Let me help you with that."

"Please," Lee said, doing a half turn that met and tangled with Richard's body. In another moment Richard's underwear was shoved somewhere toward the bottom of the bed, and their mouths met in earnest.

"You are the sweetest man," Richard said against Lee's lips. "To put me to sleep like that."

"I don't feel sweet any more."

"No?" Richard rolled on top of him, an experimental move. It had been years since Richard had been with a man, even though Annie was fine with it, and their relationship had been open for a long time. He'd just never been tempted.

But Lee's body was beautiful, and Lee's eyes were deep as they stared up in a haze of horniness, and they were both hard against each other. It took Richard's breath away for a moment, and he smiled down at Lee.

"Yes, that," Lee said, and reached between them and gripped, and Richard gasped, leaning down to kiss Lee again.

It was a slow build of heat. Lee knew what he was doing with one dick, but absolutely had it figured out with two. He slowed when he knew they were both near coming.

The first time Lee choked them off Richard chuckled.

The second time, Richard began to growl.

The third time, Richard cried out against his ear. "You bastard… I'm going to pin your hands over your head and finish it myself."

"I thought I was sweet."

"Fuck --"

Richard pulled away from Lee entirely, glowering down with his dick rising hard against the muscles of his stomach. It had Lee swallowing for a moment and biting his lip. What would Richard do next? And then Lee knew, because Richard flipped him to his stomach, landing a rough smack on his ass.

"Naughty boys definitely get spanked."

"Don't throw me in the briar patch --"

Another smack or two had Lee moaning into the pillow, and he spread his legs in a _please, please, there_ kind of way. He was rewarded by the feeling of a finger sliding to toy with him, even while another hand kept up the hard smack on his asscheek.

"Don't stop that, please --"

"I adore listening to you beg, Lee." Richard's voice sounded so dark just then that Lee shuddered. What else would he do? But then Lee felt a tongue on the back of his neck that didn't end until it traced every single bump of his spine, right down to his tailbone. Then the teeth on his tailbone had him gasping.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you come but please take it out on me more," Lee moaned into the pillow.

"You can keep begging," Richard said.

"Please, please, Richard, do whatever you want to me!"

"Tempting. I think I shall."

Lee felt the bed shift, and fingers part his cheeks, and then the beautiful wet feeling of a tongue…

For a long moment the room was full of nothing but low moans. Then Richard slid his hand up between Lee and the bed, and Lee's moans became deeper and deeper until he was cursing.

Richard wasn't letting up. "No -- I'm going to -- fuck -- not yet -- I don't want to yet -- NNNNNH." Lee came, so hard he felt his whole body curl up for a moment outside of time. But he wasn't allowed to rest…

"And now." Richard wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, rising up, "If you don't mind, sir, I'd like you to put that begging mouth of yours to some use." Pushing Lee over onto his back.

Lee was such a happy mess that he didn't mind getting shoved around. Come was all over his stomach and his sheets but he didn't care. He had an aroused, annoyed Richard straddling his chest and a dick pressed against his lips.

Richard had never seen anything hotter than Lee opening up his mouth slowly, eyes closing, to take him in. Richard angled himself just right so that it didn't hurt Lee's jaw, and reached down to hold Lee's head while he fucked his mouth.

It short-circuited Richard's nice setting to see something that hot, and soon he fucked as deeply as Lee would let him. Lee's hand was around the base of his dick too, and Richard knew that he wasn't going to last.

And then Lee opened his eyes and stared up at Richard with his mouth full of cock, and Richard couldn't stand it. He pulled out and covered the end of his dick with his hand. With Lee's fingers sliding along him in rough but satisfying jerks, Richard moaned as he came into his own palm.

Those eyes… Richard stared down for a long, spent moment, lost in those eyes.

"Just wipe your hands on the sheet," Lee drawled, completely misreading and amused at Richard's moment of hesitation. "They never teach you that stuff in gay porn school."

Richard laughed, but clambered off of Lee and wiped himself on his underwear instead, and after a moment used it to mop up the mess on Lee's stomach too.

Then Richard disappeared, and Lee heard the gargling and spitting of mouth wash. That was nice. Lee didn't fancy kissing someone immediately after a rimming either.

But after all the awkwardness, Richard climbed back into bed, and settled facing Lee.

"You beautiful man. How dare you make me feel happy tonight?" Richard smiled at him, feeling warmed through and through, in places he hadn't realized he'd needed it.

Lee smiled back at him, touched by the words. "You made me feel all kinds of things tonight, Richard." Sleepily. Honestly.

This time, the kisses were lazy and long, without as much urgency, but with a lot of satisfaction.

Lee spent a few last moments before sleep wondering what would happen the next day, but soon he was snoring, one arm over Richard, nose against Richard's neck.

"You would snore," Richard whispered into Lee's hair, sighing and smiling at the same time.

~


	7. Denouement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All that's left is the final act in this little play.
> 
> This story marks the first RPF I've written in ten years, and I hope you enjoyed it. Please do comment if you'd like more of my particular brand of crazy. I appreciate you, so much, for reading it!

Richard woke up to a familiar sound. It was a strange low huffing, and he knew it because he often did it too. Glancing at his cellphone blearily he saw that it was close to nine in the morning, past when he normally woke up for yoga.

Rising up onto his arms, he saw the source of the huffing: a man in a pair of briefs doing pushups.

The flexing of Lee's arse muscles got Richard restless, and he sat up a little more. He was respectful, though. An actor's body was his tool, and discipline got them both where they were. Ignoring his itch to lure Lee back into bed, he got up too, prowling to the living room to see what space he could find.

"I'll -- be -- done -- in -- a -- moment," Lee said, gasping between arm flexes.

"No problem, I need to do some yoga myself," Richard called from the kitchen.

The spare layout of the flat proved perfect for such a thing. Richard began a sun salutation, and was halfway into his second before he realized that he'd just woken up in Lee Pace's bed after they'd messed about with each other, and somehow it wasn't awkward at all.

Richard was holding his leg behind him in a standing bow when he heard soft footsteps treading into the kitchen. Then he heard the grinding of coffee beans and smelled the wonderful scent, and it gave him an impetus to finish up.

Richard sat in lotus for a moment or two, hands together in front of his chest, when the silence made him open his eyes. He glanced to the side to see Lee holding two cups of coffee.

"I'm done now."

"Come outside, it's an awesome day."

They both moved with the slow rolling gait of men who had recently had decent sex, but Richard suspected that Lee always moved like that.

Out on the patio the air was just a little crisp, and golden light slanted over the sleepy town.

They sipped coffee in companionable silence. Richard realized he kept waiting for the awkwardness to begin, but it never did. He felt comfortable.

"Will you take me to get my car, later?" Lee asked. The car was still at the studio.

"Mm. For a price." Richard's voice went soft and teasing again, and his grin was just a touch shy.

"Maybe…explain about Annie first?" Lee asked quietly. That was the one small niggling worry on his mind. What could he be to Richard, if someone else was taking up his emotions?

Richard nodded. Fair enough. He hopped up onto the railing, studying his coffee for a moment before he spoke. The coffee was rich, and struck his palate hard, but he needed it just then.

"She's got a fire in her for acting that I fell for before I knew her at all." Richard's voice had an edge of pain to it, and he felt the ache in his heart, the dull thud of missing someone that wasn't going to go away for a while. "She's been my partner for ages, and I never thought she'd give up on me. She's that even-tempered and smart, and she's never wanted to play by the rules."

"And…you have lovers on the side."

"We both do. Did. Lovers aren't as important as sharing a life, she said. But I guess … even Annie has her limits."

Lee nodded, thinking of his last boyfriend and how they'd parted. It left a hole that Lee didn't really want to fill, the size and shape of Carter. 

Lee put down his coffee again and stepped within reach of Richard, sliding a hand up an arm, down Richard's back. 

"Sounds remarkable," Lee said. "I hope for both of your sakes that you can reconcile." And a small part of him wanted the opposite.

Richard met his eyes a little shyly, and then glanced down. 

Lee wondered if this much sharing of emotion was rare for such a self-contained man. "But you," Lee said, running his fingers through the soft growth of Richard's beard, "you are leaving an impression on me, too, you know."

The smile that met Lee's was genuine, and they both had silly grins for a minute. It felt like getting a crush at school, with all of the fluttering stomach and shyness that came with it.

"What's your plan for today?" Lee asked.

"Getting your car. And…" Richard hesitated.

"Yes?"

"Some condoms so we can do each other proper." Richard's last words were a growl.

~

It was difficult for Lee to keep his hands off Richard after that. 

In the car, driving to pick up Lee's from the lot, Lee rested his hand on Richard's leg and never stopped moving it.

"I'm going to be hard when I buy condoms, you know," Richard said, settling his long fingers over Lee's equally long ones. "Stop, Lee, please." But Richard was laughing. 

"I'm not taking you seriously at all." Lee gently rubbed his thumb against the lump in Richard's pants while he groaned. "I think you like people who are a little bit naughty."

Richard leveled a look at him, an eyeroll that was still somehow hungry. "Meet you back at your house, then."

Lee gave him an equally hungry wink.

~

Lee was showered and naked when he heard the knock at the door. He peeked out of the spyhole and saw Richard's face, expression carefully blank. When Lee opened the door Richard stepped in and pushed the door closed by shoving Lee up against it.

"You wasted no time," Richard said, but Lee's hands were equally rough on Richard as he helped to divest him of his few layers of clothing. The small brown bag of condoms and lubricant dropped to the ground, and naked, Richard knelt to run his tongue along the crease of Lee's abdomen.

Lee looked down, locking eyes with Richard, only to see him open his mouth --

"You are beautiful, Lee. I feel privileged to touch you --"

"Fewer words and more cocksucking," Lee said, both hands climbing into Richard's hair.

Richard opened his mouth and took Lee in. He knew they didn't have much time left together before the production was over and they jetted off to wherever they had to go. Maybe Richard would patch up his life with Annie… But at the very least, Lee would leave a shape in him that couldn't be filled by anyone else.

Richard tried to say as much when Lee's legs were on his shoulders and Richard's fingers were knuckle-deep inside of him.

Lee was in no mood to pay attention, but Richard had control.

"Now listen." Richard flexed his fingers and Lee whimpered. "I'm a private man. I won't give PDA. But at the same time, the second we're alone…"

"Please, Richard, shut up and fuck me," Lee moaned, hips moving to take in more.

"Exactly." Richard slid on the condom and positioned himself, meeting Lee's eyes as he pushed inside.

The moment was torturously slow and they were both shaking by the time Richard was fully seated in him. Pausing, Richard leaned down to pant something into Lee's ear. The words he'd been trying to say...

"MMmh. What?" Lee felt full, emotionally, physically. He began to grin, though.

"Nothing."

"Then you're a bastard to make me wait so long for you," Lee moaned, and his whole body writhed and clenched in such a way that Richard wondered why he bothered with women at all. 

"SS…wha -- I don't c…Mmmmmmmm…" Richard's voice descended into incoherence, and the fucking became harder, deeper, to the sound of their mutual groans.

~

"If I see your face in these woods an age hence, it would be too soon for me," Thranduil cried in anger, raising a hand for his guards to step up to the dais and grip Thorin by the arms.

They were in full costume for the scene that they'd done in walk-through so many months ago.

Thranduil got to his feet, his long blond locks swinging, hand at the hilt of his sword.

Thorin glared up at him, and Lee noticed that a red mark on Richard's neck hadn't entirely been covered by makeup. He didn't break character, though, and unsheathed his sword in a swift flash of light, bringing the tip to the underside of that beard he knew so well.

"Well, what do you have to say, king under the mountain?" Thranduil demanded, tilting up Thorin's head with the tip of the blade.

Thorin spat and said nothing, but his eyes spoke for him. Hatred, a fury born of ancient enmity.

Disgust crossed Thranduil's face. "I expected no more from you," he lowered his sword and turning away. "Take him to the cage. I will have my way with him later."

The whole production paused. 

Thorin blinked.

"Er," said Lee. "I mean. … I'll have my SAY with him later."

"Busted," said Grace from the sidelines.

"Mmm," agreed Ian, nodding his head sagely. "And look at all those hickeys."

"We'd better take it from the top," Peter's voice came from the loudspeaker outside of the tent. "Keep it in your pants, boys!"

But it took another five minutes before the leads stopped being quite so red in the face.

~


End file.
